Granted Patent B1

US 7,899,176 · App. 11/540,903 · Granted Mar 1, 2011

Abstract

Claims (58)

1. A method for discovering customer center information, comprising:

receiving a plurality of customer center information from a plurality of respective information sources; and

correlating the plurality of customer center information to determine an identity of a customer center agent accessing customer center resources; and

updating a data structure according to at least one of the plurality of customer center information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of respective information sources are external information sources.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying the customer center resources accessed by the customer center agent.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising requesting the plurality of customer center information from the plurality of respective information sources.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of information sources transmit the plurality of customer center information at predetermined time intervals.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of information sources transmit the plurality of customer center information responsive to changes in corresponding information stored in the respective information sources.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the customer center resources comprise at least one of a customer center computer and a customer center telephone.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of information sources includes at least one of: a human resources computer, a computer telephony integration (CTI) server, a customer relations management (CRM) server, a telephone control device, a network server, and a customer center agent computer.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing an agent name received from one information source with an agent name received from another information source.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

planning at least one campaign to implement goals;

scheduling and deploying a workforce in accordance with the campaign to produce a plurality of agent-customer interactions;

measuring performance of the customer center agent on at least a portion of the agent-customer interactions to produce a set of quality metrics for the agent;

analyzing the quality metrics to produce a rating of the measured interactions;

combining at least a portion of quality metrics to produce performance indicators; and

using the performance indicators in the planning step of a second campaign or another iteration of the at least one campaign.

11. A system for discovering customer center information, comprising:

memory;

software stored in the memory;

a processor; and

at least one communication interface configured to receive a plurality of customer center information from a plurality of respective information sources; and

wherein the software is configured to instruct the processor to determine whether an identity of a contact center agent included in customer center information received from a first of the plurality of information sources corresponds to an identity of a contact center agent included in customer center information received from a second of the plurality of information sources, and update a data structure according to at least one of the plurality of customer center information.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the software is configured to instruct the processor to cause the system to send a message responsive to determining that an identity of a contact center agent included in customer center information received from a first of the plurality of information sources does not correspond an identity of a contact center agent included in customer center information received from a second of the plurality of information sources, and wherein the message is configured to inform a recipient of the message that a failure occurred in correlating an identity of a contact center agent.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein contact center agents accesses customer center resources to be included in customer center information, and wherein the customer center resources comprise at least one of a customer center computer, a customer center telephone, a customer center camera, and a customer center microphone.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of information sources includes at least one of: a human resources computer, a computer telephony integration (CTI) server, a customer relations management (CRM) server, a telephone control device, a network server, and a customer center agent computer.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the processor is instructed by the software to initiate messages requesting from the plurality of information sources respective portions of the plurality of customer center information.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of information sources transmit the plurality of customer center information at predetermined time intervals.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of information sources transmit the plurality of customer center information responsive to changes in corresponding information stored in the respective information sources.

18. The system of claim 11 , further comprising:

a workforce manager comprising a scheduler; and

a quality monitor configured to provide, to the scheduler, at least one quality goal for a work period and at least one agent quality score,

wherein the scheduler is configured to produce a workforce schedule comprising agent assignments to work activities, wherein the workforce schedule is based at least in part on the at least one quality goal and the at least one agent quality score.

19. A method for discovering customer center information, comprising:

receiving telephone identification information from a first information source;

receiving computer identification information from a second information source;

receiving information identifying a customer center agent from a third information source;

correlating at least one of the telephone identification information and the computer identification information with the information identifying the customer center agent; and

determining whether at least one of the telephone identification information and the computer identification information corresponds to the customer center agent.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising sending a message responsive to determining that the at least one of the telephone identification information and the computer identification information does not correspond to the customer center agent, and wherein the message is configured to inform a recipient of the message that a failure occurred in correlating an identity of a contact center agent.

21. The method of claim 19 , further comprising updating a data structure according to at least one of the telephone information and the computer identification information.

22. The method of claim 19 , wherein the first information source is one of a telephone control device, a customer relations management (CRM) application, and a computer telephony integration (CTI) server.

23. The method of claim 19 , further comprising requesting the telephone identification information and the computer identification information from the first and second information sources, respectively.

24. The method of claim 19 , wherein the second information source is at least one of a customer center agent computer and a customer center server.

25. The method of claim 19 , further comprising identifying a telephone and a computer being used by the customer center agent.

26. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

storing telephone interactions corresponding to the customer center agent; and

storing computer interaction data corresponding to the customer center agent.

27. The method of claim 25 , wherein the computer interaction data comprises at least one of computer screen capture data, e-mail data, and web-chat data.

28. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

planning at least one campaign to implement goals;

scheduling and deploying a workforce in accordance with the campaign to produce a plurality of agent-customer interactions;

measuring performance of the customer center agent on at least a portion of the agent-customer interactions to produce a set of quality metrics for the agent;

analyzing the quality metrics to produce a rating of the measured interactions;

combining at least a portion of quality metrics to produce performance indicators; and

using the performance indicators in the planning step of a second campaign or another iteration of the at least one campaign.

Assignments (9)